New Foodbank Trustees

New Trustees
Our Board of Trustees has seen a lot of change over the last year with Ian Hill, Linda Hindle and Anita Hamson all reaching the end of their tenures and stepping down. New trustees, Rebecca, Claire, Simon, David and Debbie have all joined so we thought this would be a good time to provide a brief introduction to each.

David Bowen
David and his wife, Gail, volunteer at the Wetherby Distribution Centre. David also provides induction training for new Foodbank volunteers. Now retired, David’s professional background is in Education, in particular school governance.

Rebecca Lythe
Rebecca became chair of the Board of Trustees in August 2024. Rebecca is Managing Director of Newmedica, a leading NHS provider of Ophthalmology Services in England. Prior to that she held senior leadership roles at Asda (Strategy and Business change Director and Chief Compliance Officer). She lives in Thorp Arch and is looking forward to supporting the Foodbank’s next chapter for the local community.

Debbie Marriot
After twenty-seven years working for the NHS, Debbie retired four years ago. Determined not to be bored, she became a trustee of her local village hall in Kirk Deighton, a parish councillor, and also a member of The Kirk Deighton events team. She is a familiar face around the foodbank in her role as coordinator at the Wetherby D.C. She and her husband John have three children and nine grandchildren.

Claire Burn
Claire is delighted to be joining the foodbank as a trustee. She lives in Barwick in Elmet and has three children, all attending school in the area. As a qualified accountant, she’s looking forward to putting her skills to good use as treasurer for our foodbank.

Jim Tinsley
Jim’s background in lies in bespoke large-scale engineering for the entertainment industry worldwide. Now retired, he brings his extensive experience in developing and running his own successful business to the foodbank, in particular in the area of day-to-day operations. Jim has three grown-up daughters and lives in Tockwith with his wife Emma who also volunteers at the foodbank.

Simon Mawhinney
Simon is an experienced director working in a national role for NHS England. His current role focuses on developing strategy and policy with a strong link to government and local delivery. Before this, he worked in local hospitals and social care. Simon moved to Wetherby in 2010 with his wife, daughter and dog. Outside of work he likes to play padel to an average standard, walk the dog, and also talks a good game of rugby and football. He volunteered for the foodbank last summer and was pleased to join as a trustee and support the charity going forward.

We’d like to thank all our previous trustees for the hard work and dedication they’ve shown over many years. To all our new trustees, welcome!

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